Two French Air Force Mirage 2000D fighter jets skimd over the Niger-Mali border, looking down from the sky, they were still over the desert, and ahead, within Mali's territory, so greenery could faintly be seen.
The lead pilot glanced at the altitude, which showed 4200 ters.
He reported his position to the airbase, informing them that he was about to cross the national border.
For the French, moving freely between Niger and Mali's airspace was very simple; all that was required was to notify the governnts of both countries.
Neither Niger nor Mali's rulers would make any objections to this.
This was an advantage of once being a colonial master.
After routinely reporting the flight group's position, the pilot of the lead aircraft and the wingman started a casual conversation.
"Scabbard 2, let's climb above 3000 ters later."
"Are you worried about their man-portable air defense systems?"
"Better safe than sorry, I heard they've got Stingers."
"Just Stingers. As long as we don't ss up, they can't even catch up with our planes."
"Like last ti, we'll do a round of bombings near the target area, then turn back to low altitude and make another pass."
"No problem, these guys scatter like a troop of monkeys as soon as we bomb them."
"Be ready, we will enter the attack zone in ten minutes."
Just then, a call ca through the communication channel from the base.
"Scabbard calling Scabbard Group."
"Scabbard 1 received, go ahead."
"Scabbard 2 received, go ahead."
"New intelligence received, imdiately climb to 7000 ters, climb to 7000 ters now. The enemy may possess SA-9 missiles, avoid low-altitude bombing tactics, and use the 'Gemstone Road' laser-guided bombs onboard for high-altitude dropping. The target has been updated; coordinates have been transmitted, do you copy?"
The front-seat pilot imdiately brought up the data to check and communicated with the pilot behind him, "Do you see the updated target coordinates?"
"I see them, that's strange..."
The rear-seat pilot, responsible for weapons deploynt and radar monitoring, carefully checked the coordinates and voiced his concerns, "These three coordinates aren't inside Affines Town; they seem to be positioned behind the town outside..."
"Scabbard 1 to Scabbard, our two aircraft only have two 'Gemstone Road' bombs, it's not possible to destroy all three targets."
"Scabbard Group, the sent coordinates are for the SA-9 launcher vehicles, they should also have a radar vehicle nearby; look out for any radar scans hitting you, mark the source. Another group of fighters has taken off and will arrive shortly."
"Understood!"
After responding, the pilot glanced at the altitude.
The altitude had reached 7000 ters.
Though SA-9 surface-to-air missiles boasted a tail chase capability up to 11,000 ters, the latest improved model had an effective shooting height of about 6100 ters.
Plus, with the Mirage 2000D's top flight speed of Mach 2.2, and the SA-9 missiles having a speed of around Mach 2.0, if they weren't too close, even if locked on, they could always accelerate at max speed and escape.
After ten minutes, the two planes finally arrived over the designated target region.
As expected, an alarm sounded from the radar warning system.
"Scabbard, this is Scabbard 1, I've been locked on."
"Release the bomb imdiately, break away now, don't engage."
"Understood!"
The pilot imdiately designated the target, unlocked the safety on the Gemstone Road laser-guided bomb, and the pilot in the backseat corrected the coordinates and locked onto the target in the system.
Both were experienced partners, executing a series of maneuvers seamlessly.
In less than twenty seconds, a "Gemstone Road" laser-guided bomb detached from the belly of the Mirage 2000D, its tail fins deployed, gliding forward in the updraft.
"Scabbard 1, bomb released, now breaking away!"
"Scabbard 2, bomb released, now breaking away!"
"Scabbard received, return to base imdiately, good luck!"
The two Mirage 2000D planes made a steep turn in the air, quickly changed direction, and sped away from the target area, heading back toward Niger.
On the ground, the radar operator sitting in front of the screen on the SA-9 launcher system's radar vehicle watched as two bright spots on the screen suddenly broke away and turned around, leaving him dumbfounded.
He turned to the group leader, "The French planes seem to have run away..."
The launch group leader was stunned to hear this; he leaned forward to confirm that the enemy planes were fleeing and quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie to report to Aisade, "Colonel, the French planes have turned and are running away!"
"They ran away?!"
Aisade sounded very displeased.
"Order the launch now, take them down!"
"Colonel, they haven't entered our effective firing range yet. Launching now won't hit them at all..."
"What?! You've trained for so many days, all for nothing?! Isn't this thing supposed to hit targets at altitudes of over six thousand ters? I can always see the damn French planes flying over our heads, and you can't hit them?!"
Aisade was furious.
"Just wait!"
The conversation was abruptly cut off at this point.
The leader of the missile launch team was sweating profusely.
The Colonel's temper was not to be taken lightly.
He didn't care about technical specifications or operating procedures; all he wanted were planes, to shoot down French planes.
He was completely ignorant of the SA-9's performance paraters. Try explaining it to him, and it was like talking to a wall.
If you talked too much, with the Colonel's temper, you might just find yourself beheaded with one swipe of his sword.
It didn't take long for Aisade to arrive on the scene.
Today, to witness the downing of French fighter jets with his own eyes, he had set up his temporary command post in the shade of the trees less than thirty ters behind the launcher vehicle.
Aisade, seething with anger, climbed directly onto the launcher vehicle.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Colonel..."
The leader of the missile team turned and pointed at the radar screen, wanting to tell Aisade that the two French planes were indeed getting away.
Just then, suddenly, a loud explosion sounded in the distance.
Boom—
Boom—
Two huge fireballs rose into the air.
In less than two seconds, Aisade suddenly felt a massive force sweeping in from nowhere, and the instrunts and screens on the radar vehicle instantly went dead, everything dimd.
The blast wave rushed in from outside the door, a wave of heat compressed into the cramped space, and the whole vehicle was blown into the air, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Aisade nearly lost consciousness.
He felt as if his whole body had been pounded with a hamr, his bones dislocated, and blood was flowing from his mouth and nose; touching it with his hand, he found it bright red.
Had he been bombed?
How could he have been bombed?!
Groggy, Aisade tried to get up, but collapsed back to the ground.
At that mont, two Mirage 2000Ds trailing in the sky once again dropped two Gemstone Road precise guided bombs.
Aisade crawled out of the radar vehicle, imdiately feeling dizzy; looking around, many trees were knocked down by the blast wave, bodies were everywhere...
"Soone..."
"Soone..."
He called out a few tis.
No one answered...
Aisade wanted to leave the place but only managed a few steps before falling flat on his back.
The sky was a deep, clear blue; it must already be eight o'clock, and the sun was out.
A small black dot suddenly appeared in Aisade's line of sight.
Like a bird flying high.
Suddenly, the bird began to dive...
It grew larger and larger, ever larger...
Looking closely, it seed you could even see things like wings extending...
Upon getting closer, Aisade realized it wasn't a bird.
It was long, with tail fins.
"Damn bomb..."
Aisade tried to run, but couldn't move. After letting out one last sigh, the warlord closed his eyes.
Boom—
A pillar of fire shot into the sky, and in an instant, Aisade was reduced to dust, scattered in all directions...
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